


Gold Means Forever

by RandomReader13



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Family Fluff, Ficlet, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Found Family Bingo, Gen, Happy Ending, Parent-Child Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:28:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26805133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RandomReader13/pseuds/RandomReader13
Summary: Cass fidgeted with her dress as she stood near the front door. It was yellow, with little flowers around the hem. She had picked it out last night: a bright happy dress for a bright happy day.
Relationships: Cassandra Cain & Bruce Wayne
Comments: 10
Kudos: 78





	Gold Means Forever

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this a while ago, posted to my Tumblr but not here bc it was so short but I found it while going through my drafts and it's too sweet! Enjoy!

Cass fidgeted with her dress as she stood near the front door. It was yellow, with little flowers around the hem. She had picked it out last night: a bright happy dress for a bright happy day. Last night she had been all excited twirls and fingers aching to dance and the dress had seemed the perfect thing. But now she was too bright, too visible. She would be an easy target. Cain’s teachings were rearing their heads -- Jason had taught her that, rearing their heads, they were good words for the tight feeling in her chest like something was going to explode out of it any second.

Cain had never used words, but his fists and bullets had been good teachers. She must hide, be always silent, always watching and never watched. Her clothes were black for hiding, not yellow for happy, he would punish her if he could see her now. Cass did not wrap her arms around herself. She stared at the door with her arms by her sides and hands loose, listening for any movement, any sign that Cain was going to come and take her away. Bruce had said he couldn’t, that no one could in- ifinl- come into the house without him saying yes, and normally Cass could believe his serious eyes and shoulders always turned to protect, but today she was in a yellow dress.

Footsteps tapped down the hallway. They were heavy like Cain, but Cass let some of the tension ease from her body. Cain would not let her hear him coming.

“Hi Cassie,” Bruce said, the wrinkles around his eyes screaming _happy happy happy_. Cass smiled back, but Bruce was good at seeing and his mouth moved down into worry. “Nervous?” he asked quietly. He reached out, slowly, gently, watching, asking. Nervous was small fear. Cass had small and big fear, but this was a bright happy day. She did not want Bruce to lose the happy around his eyes. Cass let him put his hand on her shoulder and nodded. She could not speak, she was already wearing a yellow dress.

Bruce paused, head tilting to the side a little as he watched her. “I have something for you,” he said. “I was going to give it to you at the courthouse but…” he smiled a little, “I think you should have it now.” He reached into his pocket, shifting onto his heels, and Cass recognized his own nervous.

There was a small box in Bruce’s pocket and he paused to run his fingers over it. There were sad wrinkles around his mouth, now, but they did not banish the happy ones around his eyes. Bruce looked up at her and the sad disappeared into soft, even as he rocked a little against the nervous. “This is for you to keep,” he told her, holding out the box.

Cass took it and reminded herself that Bruce’s surprises were good. She pushed open the lid. A necklace was sitting in the box, shiny gold in a circle around a stone as dark blue as Bruce’s eyes. She looked up at him.

“It’s called a sapphire,” he said. “It’s the Wayne family color. And it,” he paused, the nervous making it all the way to his hands. “It belonged to my mother.”

Cass’ eyes widened and she pointed at a painting on the wall; the back garden painted in long swooping strokes that made Cass feel the joy of a summer day bubble up in her chest. Bruce smiled, even as the sad made it weak at the corner. “Yes.” Cass looked back at the necklace, running one gentle finger around the edge.

“For me?” she whispered.

“For you,” Bruce said. “I think she would be very happy to know her granddaughter had it.”

Granddaughter. That meant Bruce was her dad. But they hadn’t gone to write the papers yet. She was still Cain.

“I’ll tell you a secret, Cassie,” Bruce said. “I don’t care what the court or some piece of paper says. You’re already my daughter. You’re already a Wayne.”

Cain did not allow tears, they were weak and soft, but Cass was not Cain anymore. She was Wayne, and Bruce did not mind when she ran forward and buried her face in his shoulder. His arms wrapped around her, warm and strong and safe, and he stroked her hair as she squeezed him as hard as she could and cried. She was a Wayne.

“Do you want to wear the necklace?” Bruce asked once she had wiped her eyes and breathed deep. His chest rumbled against her and she could feel the nervous coming back in the way he pulled his arms away. “It’s alright if you don’t, I know you’re not really-” Cass shoved the box at him and whirled around. Bruce laughed, soft and relieved and _happy happy happy_. He carefully looped the gold chain around her neck. Cass looked down and gently touched the pendant. It was the same color as the carpet on the main stairs and the old tapestry she had found in the attic one day. The gentle curve of gold was the same as the happy strokes of paint on the wall. She was Wayne no matter what a piece of paper or Cain said.

Cass laughed and twirled around, her skirt spinning with her. She did not have to be quiet and hidden, she was yellow and bright and happy.

Bruce held a hand out to her, smiling bigger than she had ever seen him. “Are you ready to go, Cassandra Wayne?”

“Yes,” she said, taking his hand.

“Your dress is very pretty,” he told her as they stepped out into the bright happy day.


End file.
